Americold Realty Trust has agreed to acquire a 15% stake in SuperFrio Armazéns Gerais, a Brazilian cold storage operator owned by Patria Investimentos, for US$28m.

(Comercial Property Executive) Americold Realty Trust has entered into a joint venture under which it will purchase about 15 percent of SuperFrio Armazéns Gerais SA, a leading temperature-controlled storage operator in Brazil. SuperFrio currently operates 16 facilities, totaling 35.1 million refrigerated cubic feet.

The acquisition reportedly is valued around $28 million (about BRL 118 million) in cash consideration. Americold expects to fund the acquisition with a combination of cash on hand and revolver proceeds. The deal includes a provision that gives Americold the option to acquire full ownership of SuperFrio starting in 2023.

Under the agreement, Americold commits to funding up to an additional $30 million (about BRL 127 million) at its pro-rata share for the joint venture’s acquisition and development activity over the next two years.

In the meantime, Americold will gain a seat on the board of directors of SuperFrio, which is currently owned by Pátria Investimentos, a Brazilian private equity firm with about $14 billion of assets under management. The closing is subject to customary conditions and is expected to take place in the first quarter.

Americold noted in a prepared statement that Brazil, the world’s ninth-largest economy, is a key market in the global food chain, as a leading exporter of beef, poultry and other commodities.

As of press time, neither Americold nor SuperFrio had responded to Commercial Property Executive’s requests for additional information.

FROM NORTH TO SOUTH
Americold, of Atlanta, is the world’s largest publicly traded REIT focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of temperature-controlled warehouses. In November, Americold went north for an acquisition, buying Nova Cold Logistics, a Canadian temperature-controlled warehouse operator, from Brookfield Business Partners L.P. The approximately $254 million transaction encompassed three Nova Cold locations totaling 23.5 million cubic feet, plus additional acreage for future expansion.

SuperFrio was ranked as the fourth-largest refrigerated warehousing and logistics provider in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019 by the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses.